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The 17-year-cicadas (Magicicada) are coming out this year in this part of Ohio, as well as the Northern Panhandle of WV and parts of Western PA. They emerged last night on our lawn and began their adult form on our silver maples.

(All photos by Jenna Coleman).

The discarded exoskeleton of the Magicicada nymph:

An adult one is bursting through its nymph exoskeleton.

The adult exoskeleton is pasty and takes a few hours to harden into black.

Our maples are covered with discarded nymph exoskeletons, drying adults, and adults that are almost ready to start whirring in the trees.

The adult form is so oddly ugly that it is beautiful.

These cicadas have a life-cycle based upon brood. They spend 17 years underground. When that time comes in late May, they climb up out of the ground and begin mating and laying eggs. Their will be whirring loudly from the trees in a couple of days, and by the end of June, you won’t see a single one. This reproductive strategy is meant to overwhelm their many predators with so many easy targets that more than a few will manage to reproduce.

This blog covered another Magicicada outbreak in 2017, but that was a different brood. This one is Brood VII. That one was Brood V.

So we are ready for the weird noise of these cicadas as they complete their final life stage.

This question has been posited to me several times on Quora, and I’ve tried to answer it several times. But I do think it’s best that I just post it here with simple video.

There was movie called Buffalo Rider in 1978 that had the main character as a sort folk hero who rode a bison around taking down evil doers all over the West. It is not the best -acted or best written movie (to say the least), and one thing you very quickly realize is how hard it would be to ride a bison.

I have a sense of humor, so I will post a Jomo and the Possum Posse video that makes fun of this film. You can see how hard it is to ride a tame bison!

So when I see this on Quora again. I’m just going to link to this.

And I should point out that when you go to tame wild bovines, you’re kind of putting your life in your own hands. Even domestic cattle are pretty dangerous animals, and I cannot imagine how brave one would have to have been to domesticate aurochs, which were larger and far more recalcitrant.

If you can live where you can just hunt them, you’re a lot better off. You are not forced to live with them in intimate contact every single day.

So there was never good reason to tame bison in America until Europeans arrived, and there were plenty of good reasons to leave them as a natural resource that one could harvest in much the same way we harvest white-tailed deer.

It doesn’t quite feel like it yet, but pool and beach season is (almost) here. We are really fortunate to have an incredible pool and water park across the street from our neighborhood, and it opens next week. The kids are stoked! I realized that their current suits no longer fit them though, and am currently on the hunt for new ones for this year. I came across these styles you see above in my search, and wanted to share because they’re not only adorable, they’re also all under $ 18. Which one is your favorite?

Hi hi hi! The blog has been noticeably vacant recently compared to normal, I know. The truth is that I have been spending much more time creating content on Instagram lately, and while the Bubby and Bean blog will always be my social media mother ship, I get so much more engagement and traffic on IG these days. So if you don’t yet, please give a follow over there so you’re not missing out on content. And if you prefer to read here, let me know in the comments. People don’t comment on blogs anymore like they do on Instagram, but it’s still always nice to feel like there’s a conversation going on here as well, and I’m not just talking to into an abyss. Don’t worry, the blog isn’t going anywhere. We’re on our ninth year and regardless of social media shifts, our plan is to continue to create content here for years to come. And there is lots of great stuff planned here this month, so make sure to visit often.

Now that that’s out of the way, how about those pretty baskets up above? We are verrrry slowly but surely starting to get our house where we want it, room by room. (Don’t even get me started on the kitchen though. Anybody want to come just demo it for us and start all over?) But even the finished rooms could use some organization, so I’m in the market for some beautiful baskets that can hold random trinkets and also act as room accessories. I’m a big fan of all these you see here, but terrible at making decisions. Which ones get your vote?

I feel like I’m cheating a little with this post, since I shared our patio reveal (and most of these pictures) about a year ago, right after our patio was complete. But we’ve started to get it set up again for the season, and that makes me so happy that I just felt compelled to share it again.

It’s been many years since I actually had a backyard, and for a long time I dreamt of having a space that felt like an oasis. I envisioned something colorful (which is normally not my aesthetic at all) with a strong boho vibe. When we moved into our house last year, our backyard started off with nothing in it at all except a concrete step leading out to it. It was a mess, and I couldn’t wait to get started. First my husband and I designed a poured concrete patio and hired a local company to install it. I wanted it to resemble slate, and in turned out beautifully. Then my friend Tyler Wisler (he is amazing) and I worked together for about a month to come up with the overall design. We ordered the furniture and accessories and collected lots of plants and flowers. My dad and my husband built the cedar slat wall, Tyler and I arranged the furniture, and it was complete.

(Before, below.)

We spent so much time in this space (especially in the evening) last year, and I am thrilled and grateful to be able to do it again. Thanks for letting me share my excitement, friends!